Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E7

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“String Theory”

I have been down on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters over the last few episodes. I absolutely can’t stand Cate as a character and her consistent dumb actions just make me want to stop watching the show.

I have been close to just dumping this show form the watch list.

This episodes was much better, mainly because it focused on Lee, with both Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell playing Lee in the same scene against each other. While there are some holes in the concepts (which I tried to push out of my head), the performances from the father/son duo was fabulous. In particular, Wyatt Russell was extraordinary with the situation that he found himself stuck in.

The scenes got even more intense when young Lee learned that he was talking to himself as an older man. The conflict within Lee’s face over the idea that he could just step forward and have a life with Keiko was written across it.

This was strange, because I felt the stakes in these scenes because I was never sure if something would have happened to change history. I really thought something could have happened, and that was a nice change for the past events. They have always been the best scenes of this show, but there was always the idea that nothing was going to happen to out main three. That was not this.

Yes, I basically ignored the Cate scenes, especially after she fell into the well and was perfectly fine.

I do think that this show has bought itself at least another episode of my viewership. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Agents of Shield S4 E7-E11

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I jumped back into Agents of Shield last night and watched five episodes of the fourth season.

“Deals with our Devils”

Episode seven: Coulson, Fitz and Robbie are stuck between dimensions after last episode’s explosion. They can see and hear the others, but they could not interact with them.

May is desperate to save them, and she thinks the answer is inside the Darkhold and she gave it to Radcliffe. The idea of having Aida read the Darkhold in order to save Coulson and Fitz came up.

Meanwhile, the Ghost Rider spirit possesses Mack and he heads out to extract some vengeance. Robbie makes yet a second deal with Ghost Rider if he comes back to him. He would swear to keep working with the Rider to find vengeance. It agreed.

Aida ended the episode creating an artificial brain.

“The Laws of Inferno Dynamics”

This brought the mini-season arc of Ghost Rider to an end, as Robbie and the Rider are trapped in the other dimension with Robbie’s uncle Morrow.

Aida was in the heart of the attempt to stop Morrow’s bomb, and because of her action, she was allowed to remain active by Mace.

Daisy is seen by the press, but Mace stepped up and cleared her name. He reinstated her as an Agent of Shield.

However, we discover that Aida has replaced May with a LMD, and she is holding may prisoner.

“Broken Promises”

This kicked off the LMD story arc for season four for the next seven episodes.

Aida turned on Fitz and the Shield agents when they came to reprogram her brain to rid it of any remnants of the Darkhold.

Aida attacks the Shield base in search of the Darkhold. She gets her hands on it, but she gets beheaded by Mack.

Mack and Yo-Yo are fabulous this episode as they are going on about robots and how they are always turning on humans in the movies. Their banter about robot movies was my favorite part of this episode. When Mack cuts Aida’s head off , he says “Roll credits.”

We discover that Radcliffe had been working to get his hands on the Darkhold this whole time. He is quite the rat bastard.

Senator Nadeer’s brother is revealed to be Inhuman and she ends up shooting him in the gut. She has the Watchdog dispose of the body and they dump it in the water. We see a new cocoon form around him.

“The Patriot”

We get the background on Mace and the truth behind him. Turns out, Mace is not Inhuman. Instead, he has been taking a shot that gives him temporary super strength. He always has one of his men nearby with a briefcase containing the shots for any emergency situation.

However, he gets caught in the woods, with Coulson and Mack, by some rogue Hydra agents hired by the Watchdogs. His shots are destroyed and his secret comes out.

They are saved by Daisy and May (the LMD). Coulson convinces Mace to stay as the face of Shield, doing the political stuff, while Coulson takes the head of operations.

“Wake Up”

May is trying to escape, but we find out that she is not actually escaping. She is in the Framework and she is repeating everything in her “attempt to escape.” The Framework will become one of the major arcs this season in Agents of Shield.

There is a Senate hearing that does not go well.

The May LMD realized that she was the leak that caused Coulson and Yo-Yo to get caught breaking into the Senator’s office. She confronted Radcliffe and realized that her programming prevented her from telling the truth to Coulson or from hitting him.

Radcliffe is captured by Shield at this point, but Fitz figured out that this Radcliffe is also an LMD.

We learn of some tragic back story for Mack, whose daughter died days after she was born. mack and Yo-Yo grow closer.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #64

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“Hard Salt Beef”

We get more with Dunk and Egg as the second episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms continued. Dunk has started to see his friend and mentor Arlan in a different light as he spoke of his life and no one remembered him.

Dunk approached the Targaryen princes Baelor, Maekar, and Aerion, who have arrived for the tournament, and asked if they would vouch for him. Baelor did remember Arlan and agreed to vouch for Duncan.

Dunk went to buy new armor, which led him to sell his horse Sweetfoot. Dunk did show some ability with handling horses as he calmed one down that had been upset by its rider.

He also had asked Tanselle to paint a new coat of arms on his shield, though he was not sure what to have on it. After some thoughts and suggestions from Egg, he settled on an oak tree with a shooting star above it.

Dunk and Egg participated in a tug-of-war with Lyonel, who was taking it fairly lightly. They did wind up winning.

I am still amazed at the size of the actor playing Dunk. He towers over everyone in the town and one would wonder why people do not look up to the character more, figuratively.

At the end, Dunk is able to place Arlan in proper position in his mind, and swears that he will be Arlan’s legacy.

Invincible S4 E6

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“You Look Horrible”

After Mark got his guts ripped out of him last episode by Conquest, he has to take some time to heal. Two months? Sure, why not. Mark is unconscious for two months and Nolan and Oliver are left to pour liquid protein into his mouth.

The episode served as a series of bonding moments for Nolan and Oliver as they get past their personal issues and spent time training, hunting and eating some really gross looking food (that apparently Oliver loved!).

Nolan buried Conquest out of respect. In one of the post credits scenes, the show went back to the grave and lingered on it with dramatic music and I waited for the fight to come out of the grave. However, the music went silent and there was no reveal of anything. I really do not want Conquest to come back and so I am not sure if this was meant to foreshadow his return or to show that he is not coming back. Please let it be the latter.

The Viltrumites brought the war to Talescria where the Coalition was based. Things were looking bad until Mark, Nolan and Oliver arrived to switch the momentum. The war at the end of the episode was amazing.

Alan was the MVP of this episode as he was all over the episode.

The Pitt S2 E14

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“8:00 PM”

It is the penultimate episode of The Pitt and Robby is having an existential crisis and his buddy Duke saw it and called him out. Dana seemed to be able to sense what Robby was feeling. He comment about being afraid that she wasn’t going to see him any more.

Robby is clearly losing his patience. His chewing out of a couple of paramedics over their failure for gender bias in cardiac care was anything but kind hearted. Of course, they deserved the cut down.

Going back to Robby and Duke, Robby actually admits that he was feeling as if he did not want to keep going. This stripped away the question about whether or not Robby was feeling suicidal and places our concerns over what is going to happen to Robby. Noah Wylie is the star of the show, but does that guarantee that he will be safe.

The Langdon scene with the man with the spinal injury was absolutely suspenseful and tense. Langdon had every pressure in the world in this scene and he crushes it. I hope that this is something that can get Robby to give Langdon his flowers. That scene with this victim was my favorite moment of the episode.

My least favorite… the tug of war rope imbedded in the man’s hand. Ugh… HATE IT! I loved that character, but every time they showed his hand with the rope in it… I had to grimace.

If that was not enough… Dr. Al-Hashimi brought Robby in to a room asking his opinion on a case, which turned out to be her… and we find out that she has a seizure disorder paired with viral meningitis and altered mental status. How is this going to affect things?

One more week of an amazing season.

The Boys S5 E1, E2

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“Fifteen Inches of Sheer Dynamite”

“Teenage Kix”

The Boys are back on Amazon Prime for their final season, and all the crap is hitting the fan.

Homelander is in charge of everything. He is the top boss, the ultimate ruler. He’s ordering the president around, making him get drinks.

Yet, Homelander is not happy. Everyone is leaving him (in his own, warped mind).

Butcher is every bit as horrible of a person as Homelander. He has been pursuing the virus full scale and has gotten to a point where he had a usable version.

Kimiko (who talks now), Butcher, Starlight entered one of Vaught’s concentration camps to rescue Hughie, Frenchie and Mother’s Milk, despite knowing it was Homelander’s trap. The prison camp break was shocking. MM strangled the living penis man with his own penis. Who would ever guess that I would write that sentence.

The first episode brought a major tragedy. Homelander broke the neck of A-Train. A-Train showed up to help Starlight and the others escape by distracting Homelander. I hated A-Train for the longest time, but just when I really started to like the guy, he gets murdered.

Homelander unfreezes Soldier Boy and talks him into helping. He sent Soldier Boy after Butcher, and the confrontation led to Soldier Boy being exposed to the virus and apparently dying. Of course, at the end of episode two, Soldier Boy, in a body bag, sat up, indicating that the virus did not kill him. It sure looked like it did.

There is so much going on in the first two episodes (Ashley is vice-president and has a second head growing out of her head, giving her psychic powers, among other things). Starlight and Hughie are suffering from depression over the past year. Butcher is just off the deep end. Frenchie and Kimiko are hot and heavy. And Homelander… he is completely crazed… barely dealing with the world around him. He is obviously a metaphor for some of the current world events going on, and it is not even subtle at this point.

I have no idea where this season is heading, but I have to believe that Homelander is finally going to get his. How that is going to happen is anyone’s guess. The Boys is one of the best superhero shows on TV and literally anything could happen.

Shrinking S3 E11

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 “And That’s Our Time”

The third season of Shrinking ended on Apple TV + today with a sweet and sentimental episode dealing with Jimmy and his loneliness.

Everybody was leaving him. Alice is off to college. Paul had left and moved to Connecticut after he and Jimmy had a falling out. Sean moved out of the boathouse. Derek and Liz prepared to go to on vacation to Spain. Brian and Charlie are going to Tennessee.

Gaby found the ring that Derrick had bought, and she was angry that he bought the ring and planned to propose without discussing it. So, after getting advice, Gaby turned the tables and proposed to Derrick. Derrick accepted. I did enjoy the story of Gaby and Derrick.

The ending of the episode, with a discussion between Paul and Jimmy, was very emotional. But Paul had something up his sleeve because he had set up the breakfast to be for Jimmy and Sofi.

This finale had a definite final feel to it. Everything had an all-wrapped-up feel and I see that next season we may get new stories. The arc involving Jimmy’s grief over his wife’s death feels done. Jimmy being able to move forward is long overdue.

I am anxious about Harrison Ford’s Paul and his story with Parkinson’s (F Parkinson’s!) I saw an article saying that next season the cast is back with all new stories. That sounds great.

Yet, I think season three may have been the best season of the show to this point. I found this to be remarkably funny and some of the best writing on TV. I can’t wait until Shrinking returns.

Daredevil: Born Again S2 E4

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“Gloves Off”

Wow, what an episode.

We get so much Bullseye in this episode and a huge shock at the end.

Wilson Fisk’s big boxing match is up next, and I know I do not want to be the opponent facing him. The giant monster can pound away.

It does seem as if the whole thing is a plan to try and lure Daredevil and/or Bullseye out. And in that case, it did work. Just not exactly how Fisk had planned.

He had sent Vanessa away. Off to see the Governor. She did so and seemingly swayed her over to their side. However, she made it back for the conclusion of the fight, watching Wilson pummel some poor schmuck ( who was like 30-2 record wise) into oblivion.

Bullseye shows up, killing members of the AVTF members with knives and all kinds of other projectiles, marching his way toward the Fisks. He threw a crystal figure of Fisk in NYC, which was shattered and one of the pieces went into Vanessa’s skull. The imagery of the red blood pouring from her skull across her white dress as she laid on the boxing ring mat was unbelievable.

If Vanessa is dead, I don’t know what Wilson Fisk is going to do. he is barely stable as is and losing her would absolutely send him over the edge.

He’s going to blame Daredevil as well, as DD deflected a bullet that was going to kill Bullseye when Fisk picked up the gun that Venessa had and measured an already injured Bullseye. This led to Bullseye escaping from the boxing venue before anyone could catch him.

Even if Vanessa survived, Fisk is going to even more unhinged. I have a feeling that this is where we get Jessica Jones from very soon.

Things are going to be wild from now on.

Sha Na Na S4 E19, E20, E21, E22, E23, E24

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…All greased up and ready to sing their brains out….

I finished off the final season of Sha Na Na this afternoon with the six remaining episodes I had to see in season 4. I have to say that it was a really fun last few months as I worked my way through the playlist from Pattyoc01 on YouTube. While they were not always the best of quality, they were always fun and gave me flashes of nostalgia from when I was a young boy watching these in syndication. Sha Na Na was technically the first concert I ever attended (with my Dad at the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa) so I am very happy to have had a chance to watch these again.

Again, as I mentioned in the last post, some of the songs were songs that I had not heard before (or at least did not recognize). They did repeat a couple of songs in these episodes, including Runaway, Hand Jive, and Under the Boardwalk. We got to hear Chico sing again. He has not been a featured singer in the final season. Sure he was one of the lesser used voices overall in the show, but he got more than he has this year. I wonder if that was because of the absence of Dirty Dan.

We got quite a few Screamin’ Scott performances in this last handful of episodes. It was funny, but he wore that green suit in three episodes consecutively, and they were all on the street songs. I wonder if they recorded those all on the same day.

It is also interesting how many different outfits Screamin’ Scott wore. I mean, most of the group had one or two basic outfit that they wore, but Scott is always all over the place with jump suits and bright colors. And not just in the comedy skits either.

Of the guests, the one I liked the best of this group was Scatman Cruthers. I did not know what he was going to do, but he ended up singing and he was great. He played a ukulele and sang the blues. I know he sang the theme song to Hong Kong Phooey, but I did not expect him to do it here, but he was tremendous.

Other guests in these episodes included Mary Wells, The Spinners, Billie Davis Jr & Marilyn Macoo, Peaches and Herb, and Kim Carnes.

Another surprise was Pamela Meyers singing “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To”. While Meyers had sung songs before, she was out on the street all by her self. We could hear the background vocals of Sha Na Na, but there was no sign of any of them. I wonder if that was the first time someone sang a song without any sight of any of the group?

Sha Na Na was inducted into the EYG Hall of Fame this year in the April 1 Legends class. I had a lot of fun with the boys over these four seasons.

Grease for peace….

Goodnight Sweetheart, well it’s time to go….

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #63

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

“The Hedge Knight”

The new show on the Sunday Morning Sidewalk is the Game of Thrones prequel. I have only watched one episode of Game of Thrones (season 8, episode one… I was hopelessly confused), but I had heard that the show, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, did not require a knowledge of Game of Thrones to enjoy, so I added it to the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. There are six episodes, averaging around thirty minutes or so.

The show is an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg.

I’m not sure what I expected from this show, but this first episode was nowhere near it. That was not a bad thing. I thought the show was extremely charming. I felt a real connection to Ser Dunk as he attempted to enter a tournament. He was awkward and gawky, and anything like one would expect a knight to be. Meeting with the bald-headed boy named Egg, Egg would eventually convince Dunk to allow him to be his squire.

No bravado or arrogance as most knights show, Dunk was an uncommon character to lead this type of series. Again, I am not sure what I expected from a Game of Thrones prequel, but I really did enjoy this slice of imagination.

Peter Claffey played Ser Dunk. Dunk is an extremely tall person, especially in comparison to the others around him. Dexter Sol Ansell played Egg. I liked the dynamic between these two characters and I expect that they will be an important part of whether or not I continue ot enjoy this show.

It had a much more comedic feel to it than I expected. While not an out and out comedy, the tone of the show had that light-hearted humor feel which is, perhaps, why I did not expect this to be in the Game of Thrones world.

This was an interesting start to the next show in the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. We will see how it progresses in the upcoming weeks.

Jury Duty: Company Retreat E6, E7, E8

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When I started watching this season of Jury Duty: Company Retreat, I was unsure how I felt about it. By the end, I found myself absolutely lovoing it.

The last two episodes continued the storyline of the purchase of Rockin’ Grandma’s by the Triukas group and the reveal that they had a sinister motive behind the deal, giving Anthony a chance to come in at the end as a hero to stop the deal.

The Talent Show section of the show was absolutely amazing, and bringing in Sia as a guest star in the talent show was such a ridiculous, over-the-top moment, but worked so well.

Anthony Norman was such a wonderful man, and the perfect piece for the heart of the show. He was willing to take on all sorts of craziness from the collection of characters around him and he did it with such leadership and empathy. I did not think this show could top Ronald Gladden from season one of Jury Duty, but I think maybe Anthony was able to do it.

The final episode of Jury Duty has been when they go behind the scenes after the final reveal to the non-actor and it has always been one of my favorite episodes of the season because you get to see how intricate things have to be and to what lengths they take things to make this show work. Being able to see Anthony with his eyes finally open to what was going on around him is so much fun.

It also truly showed how much of a bond he had made with the actors, how connected he was with these fictional characters in real life and how much of an effect he had on them is so sweet and heart-warming. It gives you the message that if you are respectful and kind to people, good things will happen. I would be curious to see what would happen if they guy they bring in to the series would just freak out or not go to the extremes that they required him to do.

I am sure they spent all kinds of time researching their non-actor, making sure they would find the strongest possible candidate. They truly succeeded in that aspect this year.

I was iffy on the show at first, but it quickly turned into one of my favorite shows. It was easy to watch, always funny and entertaining and had a fabulous message. Jury Duty ahs had two stellar seasons of TV on Amazon Prime so far. Here’s hoping for a season three down the line.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E6

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“Requiem”

I guess Skull Island is taking place at Jurassic Park now.

What was that opening scene meant to convey? It was a huge nothing. I guess there had not been many scenes between Kentaro and Hiroshi so the writers felt they needed something to show the audience. Or maybe they needed to throw a Kong cameo in to justify the name.

I don’t know how much more of this show I can take.

I did like how Kentaro ripped into Cate with her ridiculousness. The Cate character does the same thing every episode and it feels like they could just take her dialogue and copy it every scene.

What has been true about this show since day one is that the flashbacks are heads and shoulders above the present day material. That remains to be true. We follow Shaw in his reassignment and we come to meet his father. It didn’t make me feel much better when his father asked him why he was here, and he said was it a fight or fornication. Fornication? Who uses that word in their daily dialogue?

It was interesting to see how Lee’s flashback to his father was similar to the way Lee was thinking in the present. It is meant to show that Lee is not thinking clearly, but if he is on the opposite side of Cate then I am all down with it.

The Godzilla cameo in Kentaro’s dream was ridiculous. It was not as superficial as the Kong cameo, but it wasn’t much above it.

Then, as Lee was attempting to see if it was possible to open a rift to summon Godzilla to fight Titan X, something wonky happened and present day Lee started talking to young Lee on the walkie talkie.

Has the show added a time travel element to it? That ending was an interesting tidbit that maybe becomes something to help the show out. I have found this to be quite the sludge to get through each week, and I hope that the second half of the season would bring more to intrigue me than what it has done before.

Invincible S4 E5

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“Give Us A Moment”

Holy crap.

Okay, that was as gruesome and as brutal as anything I have ever seen. I was shocked and disturbed by the imagery of Conquest ripping Mark’s intestines out of his body while Mark choked him to death.

I mean… clearly Invincible is not dead, but I have no idea how he survived that ending of this episode.

I sure hope Conquest is finally dead. The show made it appear that he is done, but I know super hero shows bring dead people back.

This episode seemed to be a slower episode as Mark and Oliver prepare to leave earth with Omni Man and they dealt with a bunch of the moments on the planet. The face off with Debbie and Nolan was amazing. Debbie was brutal as she listened to Nolan’s excuses but responded with so much vitriol.

There was a nice meeting with Nolan and Art, and Art’s reaction to Nolan’s departure was great and very understandable. When Art told Nolan that he had closed his account because he only does costumes for heroes was rough.

It seemed like everything else was just a pre-fight episode… and then all hell broke loose.

The battle between Mark and Conquest was absolutely insane. I was actually screaming at the TV when Conquest shoved his hand through Mark’s gut. I can’t believe how devastating this fight was and how vicious the struggle was. Mark, refusing to break his grip from around Conquest’s neck no matter what happened, was amazing.

I know Mark does not die… or at least, he is still alive in the comics. I don’t know if there is some kind of death but resurrection coming. Mark sure was left in a horrendous state.

Shrinking S3 E10

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“The Bodyguard of Sadness”

Woof. This one packed a punch.

It was graduation day for Alice and the emotions are all over the place for poor Jimmy, with his father departing for a deep sea fishing trip instead of attending graduation, Paul getting ready to move to Connecticut and the fact that Alice is graduating is really crushing Jimmy’s spirit.

Jason Segal gave one of his best performances of the series in this episode as he confronted Paul about a myriad of issues, some of which were directed toward Paul and others that were directed toward his own father. It was devastating to see Jimmy rip into Paul like he did, especially since a lot of the anger was actually directed to his father and his childhood trauma, the fact that everyone was leaving him, and that he was feeling alone.

Harrison Ford has been brilliant in this series, and this episode was no exception. He was so subtle throughout, but you could tell how much Jimmy’s attack affected him. He sat in his home, waiting for the car to take him to Connecticut, and you can see how much he was suffering from the rejection of Jimmy, who Paul had invited for a goodbye breakfast.

The line: “I get it now. I’m not as important to you as you are to me. I just feel stupid it took me that long to realize it. I’m just not that sensitive, Paul. I’ll survive” dropped by Jimmy was like a dagger and put in words they way that Jimmy was feeling.

This was the penultimate episode of season three, but man did it feel like a finale. Everyone was finding their path over the next several months, and Jimmy was there all on his own.

It makes me worried for Jimmy as his mental health seems to have taken a huge back step from the positive areas that it had reached since the loss of Tia.

One more episode of the season next week. The finale should be fire.

The Pitt S2 E13

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“7:00 PM”

I have never watched The Pitt live on HBO Max on the night it released until tonight. It had a premiere feel to me. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it did seem to make the episode pop even more than it does.

Robby and Dana continue their conflict with each other that resulted in a fiery scene to end the episode. Dana is trying to get Robby to go home and start his sabbatical and Robby is listing the reasons why he is still there. You can tell why these two are the backbone of the ensemble. Then, Robby blurted out the episode ender, leaving us all with our mouths agape… “What if I don’t come back?”

Obviously, this is something that has been weighing on Robby for awhile now, and part of the reason he is avoiding his departure is that he is afraid that if he heads out, he’ll find what has been missing and he won’t come back. Robby stated that he was unsure if the place could go on without him. This is, of course, extremely narcissistic feelings, but they stem from his own breakdown.

There are speculation online that this might be leading to suicidal thoughts for Robby, with some going as far as to say that Robby might die. It does seem as he has been getting worse as this season progressed, but I find it hard to believe that there is going to be any sort of suicide attempt by the lead character of this show.

It was nice to get some extended time this week with Whitaker as he has seemed to be somewhat benched this season. It is ironic that we get more of Whitaker on the screen at a time when his shift should be over. It is funny how the show consistently looks for ways to keep these people in the ER well past when they should be gone.

I have to say that I am not sure I appreciate this show giving me a character like Ogilvie, who I hated, only to bring him down to earth, humanize him, and make him someone I can relate with.

Then, I did not understand why Sean was here as a night shift doctor named Henderson. I thought Sean was preparing to be a sous chef. Of course, this is a reference to the fact that actor Luke Tennie, who has played Sean on Shrinking for all three seasons of that show is now appearing on The Pitt. It was a touch distracting through no one’s fault but my own.

There are two remaining episodes of the season and with Robby’s friend Duke getting a horrible diagnosis, things may be amping up to a painful final two episodes of a season that has been sensational once again.